Golf club clamping device or holder



Dec. 8, 1931. A. E. uHRKE GOLF CLUB CLAMPING DEVICE OR HOLDER Filed Sept. 12', 1950 Patented Dec. 8, 1931 warren STATES PATENT OFFICE ALFRED E. BUHRKE, OF CHIOAGOQiLLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO B. H. BUHRKE COMPANY, A.

CORPORATION OF- ILLINOIS GOLF CLUB CLAMIP'ING DEVICE OR HOLDER Application filed September 12, 1930. Serial No. 481,371.

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in clamping devices or separable holders adapted for clamping together and holding in an orderly condition or assembly, a plurality of golf clubs, which device I prefer to refer to as a matched set holder since my improved device is most readily adapted for holding together in satisfactory assembled relation as for transportation or for display purposes a set, for example, of matched iron clubs which now have a large commercial usage and sale. A set of matched clubs is ordinarily understood to be a set of the variously designed clubs adapted to be used by a single player, comprising, for example, the clubs having the variously constructed heads with their striking faces of different inclinations from the plane of the shaft, varying all the way from the ordinary putter having a face ordinarily not greatly inclined from the plane passing through the axis of the shaft ofthe club, to the niblick, the face of which is ordinarily inclined in a plane that may approximate forty-five degrees to the plane passing through the axis of the shaft. When these clubs are of substantially the same general design with due regard for weight ofhead and shaft lengths, they are commonlysold in what is thus termed matched sets? and dealers and users find it desirable to have some suitable means for supporting the clubs in an assembled relation andsuitably sustaining them in this relation without allowing them to become marred or injured in transportation or handling by contact with each other as when thrown together in shipping packages or when carried or transported in the ordinary golf bag.

The primary object of this invention is to provide improved means that may be used for holding a plurality of golf clubs in assembled relation for transportation or'display purposes in a maniier that the clubs without individual wrapping or individual protective covering may be kept from abrasive contact with each other and may particularly be held in attractive assembled relation for display or advertising purposes.

A further object of the invention is to provide improved means for securing matched sets of golf clubs in orderly relation and preventing such clubs, when handled in matched sets, from becoming mixed or confused with other like clubs that may be present in a showroom or storeroom and not a part of the set.

It is a further object of theinvention to provide an improved construction of multiple 7 club holding or clamping device to hold a set of matched clubs in fixed relation in such manner that they may be transported or handled without danger of injury due to the clamping device or of contact between the finished portions of the respective clubs held thereby.

Other objects of the invention willappear from the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is hereinafter described, reference being made to the drawings forming a part of the specification, the novel features thereof being set forth in the appended claims.

In the said drawings: Fig. 1 is a view showing a pair of clampingdevices constructed in accordance with my invention in operative holding or clamping position with respect to a matched set of ing shown in dotted lines for illustrative pur poses. i

Fig. 2 is a sectional view through the club assembly showing the steel shafts of the clubs five steel shafted iron clubs, the clubs be- A in section and one of the clamping devices clamping devices being diagrammatically illustrated in the open position by dotted lines. I i

Fig. t is a detailed sectional view taken 0 line 4-4 of Fig. 2 looking in the direction indicated by the arrows and showing a fragnientary section of one of the club shafts in I clamped position in the holder.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of the clamping device of Fig. 2 looking at the end thereof provided with the locking device, while Fig. 6 is an end elevation view taken at the oppo site or hinged end of the device of Fig. 2.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary bottom plan view of the device of Fig. 2 showing the end portion thereof adjacent the free or clamping end of the device with the pivoted locking hasp in open or non-clamping position.

In carrying out my invention I prefer to employ a pair of suitably supported, resilient, separable, clamping members hingedly connected together at one end thereof and provided with a lock or clamp at the other end. The device may obviously be used for clamping together any number of clubs in a set or assembled relation and in orderto adequately support the clubs in assembled reatiom I prefer to use two or more of such clamping devices on each set of clubs as illustrated, for example, in Fig. 1 where a set of five iron clubs is diagrammatically illustrated, the clubs being held in the assembled relation by the duplicate clamping device in dicated generally by reference character 10 and the respective shafts'of the individual clubs by the reference characters 11 to 15 inelusive.

Referring particularly to the construction of the device as shown in Figs. 2 to l inclusive, the resilient material in the separable parts of the clamping members is designated by the reference character 16. IVhile any suitable cushioning or resilient material may have certain usefulness when employed as a component part of this device, I prefer to construct the cushioning member 16 of vulcanized rubber having a soft or spongy quality. Sponge rubber suitatble for this purpose may be readily obtained on the market in the form of a very porous soft, flexible vul- V canized sheet. Such rubber in sheets of the desired thickness will have its outer flat surfaces vulcanized comparatively smooth but when cut into strips of the desired length and Width, the spongy or porous condition of the rubber will be apparent from an inspection of the cut edges. The resilient strips of material for clamping around the finished shafts of the clubs will be provided with co-operating recessed portions, perferably out in the form of a segment of a circle of a diameter somewhat smaller than the normal diameter of the club shafts 11 to 15 inclusive, such cooperating notch portionsv being designed as shown most clearly in Figs. 2 and 3 by the reference character 18. r

In order to suitably support the cushioning clamping material 16, I provide a pair of suitable holders hingedly connected together and preferably formed from sheet metal in the manner illustrated in Figs. 2 to 4- inclusive. These are formed in pairs and differ slightly in their construction in order to provide suitable hinging and clamping devices at their respective extremities as shown, for example, in Figs. 2 to 4 inclusive, the two metallic sheet metal holders of each pair are designated respectively by the reference characters 19 and 20.

Inthe embodiment shown these are formed out of a sheet of metal that may be cut with a die in its flat condition to each have two scalloped side members 21 and 22, the mate rial in each being cut away around the notched portions 18 .in the flexible clamping material 16 so that when the shafts 11 to 15 inclusive are locked in their clamped positions within the device as shown in Fig. 2, the finshed surfaces of the club shafts will be at all times held out of contact with the metal portions of the device. These recessed or cut away portions are indicated by refer ence character 25 in Fig. 2.

The member 19 of the two-part clamping holder will be provided with an end closure member 26 having an extended portion that may be formed into an eye 27 to co-operate with the enlarged perforated extension 28 at the end of the co-operating holder member 20 to make a suitable hinge connection as shown most clearly in Figs. 2, 3 and 6.

At the opposite end of the member 20, I provide an integral tongue closure 29 that may be formed out of the body of the sheet in the manner most clearly shown in Figs. 2, 3 and 5 to provide a closure in the locking end of the holder 20 while at the corresponding end of the holder 19, I provide a similar closure member 30 integral with the body of the material and bent at right angles to close the end of the holder 19, there being an extension or tongue 31 on the same as shown mostclearly in Figs. 3 and 5, adapted to pass on the inside of the end closure member 29 and between the same and the flexible material 16 as a keeper or guide to insure the correct alignment of the clamping members when brought to their closed or clamping position. 7

In the metallic holder 19 at the end thereof opposite the hinge joint, I pivot the hasp 32. This hasp is formed of a suitable grade of wire bent to the U' formation with the extremities thereof bent inwardly at substantially right angles as indicated at 38 and 34 and pivotally seated in suitable perforations in the walls 21 and 22 of the clamping mem ber 19 as illustrated most clearly in Figs. 2, 5 and 7. The hasp 32 may be provided at its free endwith an inward bend as indicated at 35 to Contact with a plurality of spaced apart projections 36 formed on the bottom of the clamping member 20.

In the operation of the device, a set of clubs may be arranged as shown in Fig. 1 and two or more locking or holding devices clamped in holding position around the shafts of the clubs as illustrated. The shafts 11 to 15 inclusive will be inserted between the respective jaw portions 18 of the device and the two parts thereof will be closed with the guiding member 31 in the front end passing down inside the socket or closure member 29 of the holder member 20. Then the hasp 32 will be brought to the locking position as shown in Figs. 2 and 8 so that the locking portion 35 thereof will engage one of the projections 36, effectively holding the device in locked position. The resilient material 16 will, of course, permit the engagement of the semi-circular openings 18 to accommodate any desired size of shaft within reasonable limits and when a set of clubs are locked together as shown in Fig. 1, it will be apparent that the shafts cannot contact with each other and that they will be held in spaced relation for transportation or exhibition purposes without any danger of in ury due to abrasive action of the parts upon each other.

Furthermore, it will be apparent that instead of constructing the device with openings for accommodating five clubs as illustrated,

these devices may be constructed to hold any.

desired number of clubs in a set by merely multiplying the number of club openings therein and elongating the pivoted holding members to whatever extent desired, keepingthe spaces for the club shafts at proper uniform distances so that the shafts cannot come in contact with each other while held in the device.

It will be further noted that by mounting the pivoted hasp in its socket adjacent the end of the clamping member frame to which it is pivoted, the swinging hasp 32, moving in the arc of a circle, will pass first over the spaced protuberances or projections 36 near the extreme outer end of the holder and since the spongerubber material in the clamping members is elastic and compressible, if the projection engaging end of the hasp be forced further inwardly, traveling in the arc of a circle, the effect will be to further compress the elastic holding faces of the locking members upon each other and upon the shafts held there between so that any desired degree of compression may be exerted upon the locking members until the metallic portions thereof come in contact with each other. I prefer to slightly round the tops of the spaced apart projections 36 in order that the locking hasp may pass more easily there over and the hasp may be made slightly elastic in its action by a curvature formed in the material thereof between its pivotal end and its opposite engaging end for contacting with the projections as illustrated in the drawings.

The tongue or projection 31 passing on the inside end of the opposing clamping members will serve to guide and retain the members in proper relation as they approach each other for the proper adjustment of the look ing hasp and will prevent any tendency of the free ends of the locking members from getting out of the proper plane of adjustment when in clampedposition around the shafts.

In order that theinvention might be understood, the details of the preferred embodiment have been set forth but it is not desired to be limited to the precise construction described except as limited by the claims.

Iclaim:

l. A device for holding the shafts of a set of golf clubs and the like in substantially parallel spaced-apart relation, comprising a pair of elongated members pivotally connected adjacent one extremity of each and having secured thereto on the respective meeting faces thereof co-operatingstrips of resilient material, said resilient strips being provided with a plurality of pairs of co-operating registeringtransverse recesses whereby to receive the said shafts between the said resil ient; strips and within said co-op-erating registering recesses, and means for looking together the free ends of: said elongated members to hold them in clamping position upon the said shafts.

i 2. A holding device for the shafts of golf clubs and the like comprising a pair of elongated members pivotally connected together at one extremity. of each and having elastic meeting faces thereonprovided withco-opcrating spaced recesses adapted to receive.

and to grip the said shafts there between, "a guide member adapted to project from the meeting face of one of said elongated meme bers'ancl to enter a socket opening provided in the opposing member, and means for locking together the free ends of said elongated members to compress the material of said co-operating elastic faces and to hold the members in adjusted clamping position .upon said shafts.

3. A device for holding the shafts of golf clubs and the like in substantially parallel spaced-apart relation comprising a pair of pivotally connected elongated members provided with co-operating longitudinal grooves along their meeting surfaces, a pair of strips of elastic material, one of each of which is mounted in the respective grooves of said elongated members, both of said strips being provided with co-operating projecting recessed meeting surfaces adapted to grip shafts inserted between them when the said elongated members are in substantially closed and clamping position, and means for lock ing together the free ends of said elongated members to hold the said pairs of projecting recessed strips of elastic material in clamping position on said shafts.

4. A holding device for the shafts of golf clubs and the like comprising a pair of elongated channel members formed of sheet metal', the sides of said channel members being cut away at opposing spaced intervals, cushioning members of relatively soft, compres- A sible material carried in the channels'of each of said members and being provided with opposing registering recesses in their resepctive opposing faces in the approximate centers of said cut away portions of the channel members for gripping the said shafts there between, means for pivotally connecting two adjacent ends of the elongated channel members and means for locking together the free ends of said elongated channel members to 7 hold them in clamping position upon said shafts.

5. A holding device for the shafts of golf clubs and the like comprising a pair of elongated channel members formed of sheet metal and being pivotally connected at adjacent the other said member to hold'them in fixed clamping position vupon said shafts.

6. A holding device for the shafts of golf clubs and the like comprising a pair of elongated channel members pivotally connected at adjacent ends thereof, co-operating' gripping members of relatively soft, resilient material mounted in said channel members adapted to co-operate to grip the said shafts there between, the respective sides of said elongated channel members being serrated to expose the respective sides of said resilient members at spaced positions therein adapted to receive the said shafts, there being registering co-operating transverse grooves formed in said resilient members lying in the approximate centers of the exposed portions of the resilient material within said serrations in the channel members whereby to grip the said shafts therebetween, and means for locking together the free ends of said elongated channel members to hold them in clamping position upon said shafts.

7. A holding device for the shafts of golf clubs and the like comprising a pair of elongated channel members pivotally connected at adjacent ends thereof, co-operating gripping members of relatively soft, resilient material mounted in said channel members adapted to co-operate to grip the said shafts there between, the respective sides of said elongated channel members being serrated to expose the respective sides of said resilient members, there being registering co-operating transverse groovesformed in said resilient members lying in the approximate centers of the exposed. portions of the resilient material within said serrations in the channel members whereby to grip the said shafts there between, and variable adjusting means for locking together the free ends of said 7 elongated channel members to hold them fixedly in adjusted clamping position upon said shafts. v

In testimony whereof, I. have hereunto subscribed my name onthis 6th day of September A. D. 1930.

ALFRED E. BUHRKE. 

